1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coordinate measuring system, coordinate measuring method, and a probe.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, configurations measuring three-dimensional coordinates of a work piece are known (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2011-237430). A device according to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2011-237430 includes a scanner acquiring object data of an object's surface; a tracking system determining a position and orientation of the scanner and acquiring position data for the scanner; and a controller determining three-dimensional coordinates of the object's surface using the object data and the position data.
The scanner and the controller each include a transceiver. The scanner wirelessly transmits the object data to the controller via the transceiver. The scanner includes a plurality of IR (infrared) detectors. The tracking system includes three IR sensors, each of which includes an optical device and a CCD sensor. With the IR sensors, the tracking system picks up a signal from the IR detectors, which are alternatingly activated, and the tracking system determines the position of each IR detector. In addition, the tracking system determines the position and orientation of the scanner using the position of each IR detector, and transmits the position data to the controller. Energy supply to the scanner and transceiver is performed by a battery capable of being carried by a person.
In the configuration described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2011-237430, a signal reception strength (intensity of received light) of a signal (infrared beam) from the IR detector increases in the IR sensor as a distance from the IR detector to the IR sensor decreases. In addition, an amount of infrared light that must be received in order to determine the position and the like of the scanner is defined ahead of time. Therefore, in a case where the distance from the IR detector to the IR sensor is short, even after the IR sensor receives the necessary amount of infrared light to determine the position, for example, the IR detector will continue to emit infrared light, wasting electricity.